Brownback says Kansas will always be part of United States

"Kansas is and will always remain a state in the United States of America," Brownback said.

As of this afternoon, more than 6,800 people had signed a petition urging that the state of Kansas withdraw from the United States and create its own government.

The online secession petitions from all 50 states were prompted by the re-election of President Barack Obama. The petitions appear on a White House website called "We the People," which the administration uses to hear from people on what policies they would like to see.

If a petition gets 25,000 signatures within a month the White House staff will review the issue. Legally, the U.S. Constitution doesn't allow states to secede.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, joked that maybe the petition started after Brownback refused to join the federal government to put together a health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act.

House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said he didn't think much of the petitions. "I think we settled this issue back in the early 1860s. I don't think anyone in their right mind wants to have a secession debate," Davis said.

I'm coming to rtwngr's defense here. He just stated he isn't for it, so saying "you Republicans" isn't accurate -- if anything it should be "those Republicans." It is a small section within the bigger party. I'm sure these extremists represent average Republicans as much as liberals who want to ban dodge ball or limit the size of soda you can drink represent all Democrats (odd comparisons, perhaps, but hopefully you see where I'm coming from).

Yes, I am all in favor of rubbing it in that Obama won to those who have been most outrageous in their statements of Romney's inevitable victory. To others who are Republicans but not extremists, I want to see us all work together despite differences of opinion. This can be a fun site to argue issues without the vitriol too often present in our conversations here. That is my two cents worth.

First off, the constitution says absolutely NOTHING about secession. you should be ashamed of yourself for not fact-checking when posting something you call "news".

Beyond that, I would have to agree that secession talk is just that, talk, but we're more divided now than ever and this country is not headed toward any great unification anytime soon.

Federal law and state law seem to be coming into conflict on a weekly basis over the past several years. Between campaign-finance, drug laws, gay-rights, abortion, immigration, healthcare and other areas, it would seem our "republic" has transitioned into more of an oligarchy in which the moneyed elites make decisions for the rest of the population without any consideration for due process. While the states & the people therein (which are guaranteed the right to make decisions on 100% of everything that's not detailed within the constitution) have one point of view, the will of the people is being overturned by a corporate-owned federal government.

I know most of you are too frightened or too stupid to worry about this, but there's definitely a storm brewing. We saw just how frustrated the super-far left wing was with the Occupy Movement. We saw how angry the super-far-right was a few years earlier with the Tea Party movement. Since then we've seen a huge swath of Republicans completely disenfranchised after the GOP violated its' own rules and overturned Ron Paul's campaign victories in several states during the primaries. We've seen righteous indignation by business-owners at the prospect of having to actually insure their workers' health. We've seen equally righteous indignation from the working poor who exist as debt-slaves with absolutely no chance of ever achieving "the American Dream".

Make no mistake, while secession may not be the way things move, the divisions in this formerly-great nation will only grow and at some point in the not-so-distant future, there will be a revolution of some kind.... the only question is whether it's a revolution by and for the people, or we transition to a more openly fascist (or corporate-feudalist) society.

No we aren't -- we once actually had a civil war, remember? In the recent election, the electoral college wasn't even that close, and popular and electoral college voting has been split in the past. It isn't now, with Obama winning both. Most people are actually close to being on the same page on the issues, with tweeks needed here and there to get us on the same page. Only the extremists represented by their talking heads on Fox and MSNBC are pushing the issue of this great divide.

I doubt this had anything to do with intelligence or common sense particularly since Brownback has shown neither. Personally I think he licked his finger, held it up to see which way the wind way blowing to make a choice as to who's side he was on and how it might better himself.

NO, He waited until his idol, Rick Perry, TX, made the first statement. Apparently that petition got a lot of signatures in a short time. You know BB couldn't make a decision without someone showing him the way.

Of all the most ignorant, racist, bigoted schemes I have heard about in this last election cycle, this gawdamned stupid petition takes the cake.

Whiny loosers that the Republicans have been shown to be simply cannot accept the fact that the black, Kenyan citizen (according to Donald Trump) was re-elected to the office of President of the United States. This coolition of klan members, michigan militia and American nazi party members has made theirinbred ignorance well known, and may well have been the real factor in seeing the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower (and yes, Nixon and Goldwater) shreaded to bits in the last election. With help from Missouri's Akin and other dim bulb candidates with their loose blather, the Republican Party suffered it's worst defeat in years. And yet the party terrorists, palinists, tea baggers simply cannot imagine the damage that they have done to their cause. And now this secession crap.

Well, I guess it takes all kinds to make a world, why do we have to have so many idiots and idiologues in the U.S.???

To KansasLiberal and FlintHawk. The reason we have so many idiots is on the sixth day when God created the world he took a salt shaker of idiots and began sprinkling them as the earth was spinning. Unfortunately the lid came off over the central and lower part of what is now the United States.

Reminds me of the HBO movie "The Second Civil War". In that movie, Idaho refuses to take Pakistan orphans, against the federal government. Other national guards from the area joined. In the end, due to misunderstandings, there was a battle then did not go well.

So, the screwballs who claim that Obama is a Marxist have a problem with democracy? How is that anything but anti-American?

The Tea Party has shown itself to be more than just an embarrassment to the Republican party. It is a liability that will have to be systematically scraped off the Republican shoe if there is ever going to be another Republican in the White House. Right-wing radicals aren't going to put one there. The more appallingly ignorant they show themselves to be, the less any independent thinker will want to have anything to do with the party that they currently infest.

It's these kind of crazies that have turned people away from the Republican party. I used to vote a mixed ticket, but the only Republican I would vote for now in Kansas is Sandy Praegar, who Brownback will be out to defeat next time, and replace her with a Tea Party Republican. Get rid of the birthers, Koran burners, the anti science rape doesn't cause pregnancy nutties, and I might start considering Republicans again. But as long as you let these people be a vocal part for your party, more and more people are going to bail. Start trying to be sane again, and take off the foil hats, for pete's sake!!!

Texans claim the since Texas was a "Republic" entered the union back in 1845 it (Texas) has the right to secede if they so desire! Texas tried this ploy once before when they joined the Confederacy back in the Civil War Days and then were later re-admitted to the Union after getting the keisters roughed-up. Two points: Firstly, Texas needs to figure out where it's loyalty lies, either in the U.S..or in some or in some fantasyland built upon Texas bull manure, misplaced bravado and Teabagging ignorance. And, secondly, Why did the U.S. allow Texas to re-enter the Union following the Civil War and still retained the "Republic" crap. I assumed that the old adage "To the Victory Goes the Spoils" applies in this case.